London Types by William Nicholson

London Types is a collection of wood-cut prints and quatorzains which take a satirical look at the wide range of characters found in London at the time. Some of the characters found are those such as a Bus Driver, Guardsman, Hawker, Beef-eater, Policeman, News-Boy, Drum-Major, Flower Girl and Barmaid.

The prints are the work of William (Newzam Prior) Nicholson, a painter, printmaker and theatre designer born in Nottinghamshire in 1872. He is most known for his work in painting portraits, poster printing with his brother-in-law, James Ferrier Pryde, working under the name J & W Beggarstaff, and in designing costumes and sets for the theatre. Nicholson also worked on landscapes and still-life.

The quatorzains, which is a poem with fourteen lines (from the French quatorze, fourteen) were written by William Earnest Henley, a Gloucester born writer. Henley was known for his poetry and came to prominence with the work a book of verses in 1888 and thereafter The Song of the Sword and other Verses in 1892. Close friends with Robert Louis Stevenson until a quarrel in 1888, Henley is thought to have been the basis for Stevenson's character Long John Silver in Treasure Island.

London Types was published in 1898 by the publisher William Heinemann. The work is one of three woodcut print publications when Nicholson worked on, the others being: An Alphabet (view our exhibition of An Alphabet) and An Almanac of Twelve Sports (with the verses provided by Rudyard Kipling) with these appearing in 1897.